Bodgie's comment that "We certainly had outback churches (nearly as many as we had pubs) but where are the god songs?" reminds me of something I heard recently. For an interesting offbeat look at music and religion in the Southern U.S. today "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus" is a 2004 BBC documentary, directed by Andrew Douglas, in which Jim White describes his idea of the rural South. At one point Mr. White talks about how every little town has its church at one end and its honky-tonk at the other. Stand in the middle of town and you can feel the equal pull from each direction. This was about the best impression of the fabric of rural small town America I've ever heard. I remember a 100 year old story in my own family about my Grandfather bringing a bottle of whiskey to a church social. The film features performances by cool Alt-country (or whatever you want to call it) musicians such as The Handsome Family, David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower and Johnny Dowd. A very interesting and entertaining film available on Net-flix but you can see pieces of it on Youtube as well.